SB377

Senate Bill 377 amends Arkansas law regarding initiative petitions by criminalizing specific activities that interfere with the signature collection process. It establishes a list of actions that constitute a Class A misdemeanor, such as unauthorized modification, destruction, or discarding of signatures, as well as paying others to destroy signatures or refrain from signing a petition. Additionally, the bill introduces the legal definition of a 'paid petition blocker' and a 'petition-blocking sponsor.' It mandates that sponsors of petition-blocking activities register their employees with the Secretary of State. The bill also requires these sponsors to perform criminal background checks on their staff and ensures that individuals hired as petition blockers are Arkansas residents and U.S. citizens. Finally, it specifies that ballot question committees are exempt from these penalties when discarding signatures for documented reasons or when a petition fails to reach the required threshold.